What the papers say: May should ditch her plan to leave the single market

17.4million people backed Brexit, but only two – at least one of whom campaigned for ‘Remain’ – decided that leaving the EU should also mean a departure from the single market, the customs union and the European court of justice, says the Guardian. The pair were, of course, Theresa May and her former aide Nick Timothy, who made what the paper describes as ‘fateful national decisions’ based on ‘personal interpretations of the vote’. This was a ‘reckless’ and ‘foolish’ act, says the Guardian, and nowhere is this seen more obviously in the Irish border row which has been spilling out this week. Here, the decision to leave the customs union collides ‘with the reality that to do so will inflict a hard border inside Ireland or create a new border in the Irish Sea between Ireland and Britain’. To solve this problem in the short term, it seems likely that Britain and the EU will opt for a fudge, which ‘may get Mrs May over the immediate negotiating hurdle in Brussels next week.